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Yuguang Li, a 36-year-old businessman from China, has just gone through the best two days of his life, at least as far as poker is concerned. For Li, whose previous biggest win of $12,421 for a fifth place finish came in the 2014 APPT Asia Championship of Poker, winning a second tournament less than twenty four hours after his first tournament win had to be a surreal experience.

The big news occurred on the thirteenth and fourteenth of March in the twenty second edition of the Macau Poker Cup. The two events that Li won were the Red Dragon Main Event and the High Roller. The Macau Poker Cup attracts some of the top players in the world.

The MPC22 Red Dragon Main Event

Friday the thirteenth proved to be an auspicious day for Li. The Red Dragon Main Event, that attracted 987 unique players, netted Li a whopping HK$ 1,848,000, approximately $238,000 (US dollars). To win the event, Li overcame fellow Chinese Yunye Lu, thereby also getting himself a seat in the ACOP main event.

The MPC22 High Roller

Less than a day after winning the Red Dragon Main Event, Li did it again, and this time he pocketed HK$ 1,647,000, approximately $212,000 (US dollars). Li had to overcome a playground of 67 other contestants, which had dwindled down to 34 by the last day of the event. Only the top seven made the money, leaving the other 27 empty handed, with Li taking the grand prize.

There have not been many other such great two day runs for poker players and certainly never at PokerStars Live Macau. While this tournament looks to be on its way to be remembered as one the most memorable Asian poker tournaments, Li, however, will be hoping that this will be the first and second of his many victories to come.

Full Tilt is well-known for providing exciting poker tournaments over the years. Full Tilt will now go back to the basics with an online championship poker tournament. The Full Tilt Classic Tournament will take place from February 15th-22nd. This intriguing poker event will feature sixteen freeze out tournaments over a period of eight days. The tournament will also feature two challenging daily deep-stack freeze out tournaments.

The series will showcase two premium daily deep-stack freeze outs for players that are interested in putting their skills to the test. One freeze out will be a No Limit Hold’em affair. The other freeze out will allow direct buy-ins on the first day. The buyout will start at $0.50. The buy-ins will increase as the series progresses. The Main Event will have close to $200,000 in the pot on Sunday.

An improved update to the Full Tilt Tournament offering will also be introduced during the new series. Buy-ins will be available for Sit & Go’s and Multi-Table Tournaments. Full Tilt officials have also decided to add new satellites to the schedule.

Free for All

Players participating in a Full Tilt Classic Event will receive a freeroll ticket. The freeroll ticket will give them the opportunity to move their entry to the corresponding event that will take place the following day. The Classic Freeroll and the Hold’em Freeroll will take place every day during the series.

Last Longer Tournament

Players will be in a position to win even more valuable prizes if they satellite into a Full Tilt Classic Event. Players will automatically gain entry into the Satellite Last Longer Tournament. Players will only be required to outlast other players in order to win a ticket to the Full Tilt Classic Main Event Tournament.

Michael Jolsem, a public relations representative for PokerStars, made no mention of the changing laws in a blog post addressing the upcoming changes, instead focusing on positive messaging.

“If we can grow poker, everyone will benefit. Even our competitors will benefit, because in a rising tide, all ships rise.”

The change in PokerStars terms of service do, however, raise questions about who will be paying for these new UK laws, as they surgically target not British pounds or euros, but various unsupported currencies for a 2.5% charge. If, as seems likely, these fees come as a response to new legislation, it would seem the expense has been passed on to residents of other nations.

These aren’t the only recent changes to hit PokerStars. The operator has also discontinued service to 30 markets that previously provided the company with tax-free revenues, cutting in to bottom lines further. In light of all these changes to the Poker giant’s revenue streams, it’s no wonder that visiting gamblers will see the cost of doing business passed down the line—but one must wonder how the decisions of who gets charged are being made.

Holiday season is in full swing. One of the dilemmas this time of the year is about the right gifts for family and friends. Here is some help if you are looking for gifts for someone who is a poker fan.

Buy-ins

There is nothing more exciting for hardcore poker fans than experiencing the buzz at live tournaments. If you have the moolah, you can buy a loved one a buy-in to a major poker tournament. The biggest poker event of the year of course, is the World Series of Poker (WSOP) with a buy-in of $10000 for the main event. However, you can also get the by-in for low amounts as well for smaller bracelet events. Buy-ins for other poker events around the world are also nice gift ideas for poker lovers.

Other good titles are “The Education of a Poker Player” by Herbert O. Yardley; Aaron Brown’s “The Poker Face of Wall Street” and “Blood Aces: The Wild Ride of Benny Binion” by Doug Swanson, which is the biography of the man who launched WSOP. These biographies are colourful accounts of poker personalities will certainly be appreciated as gifts.

Subscription

Who doesn’t love to receive subscription to things they love? If you have a poker fan you need to buy a gift for, how about a subscription for them at a poker training site?

George Danzer became the latest player to join the coveted list of players to win the Player of the Year award at World Series of Poker. He is the player of the year for 2014 and also won his third gold bracelet in Australia at the WSOP events in the Asia-Pacific region.

George Danzer – the WSOP top player

Danzer is from Germany, which makes him only the third non-American player so far to win the player of the year honours. Not only this, he is also the second player so far to have won three bracelets along with the top honours at WSOP. Interestingly, he is also the third player so far to have won while earning less in the same year. In his late 20s, he is based in Austria.

WSOP – the final play

The final game was played between Brandon Shack-Harris and Danzer. The match seemed like a non-decider, it could have gone either way. However, in the end it was George Danzer who took home the title. If Shack-Harris played a better game, the title could have gone to him as both George Danzer and he were having their best years at WSOP.

The decision to hold WSOP tournaments in other exciting avenues in the world is not very popular with the player or the crowd. Even Danzer, who was happy at his win, admitted that no place could match the excitement of the tournament held at Las Vegas. He said that he won his last two bracelets in events at Vegas and it felt different to win there. He also said that he was unlikely to travel to Australia for the tournament if he had no chance at winning the player of the year honours.

Belgium is in serious danger of losing appeal to elite poker players. The country is attempting to push through legislation that could tax the winnings from poker by up to 75%. This information comes from Tijd.be, a reputable financial website in the country. They claim that tax authorities in the country are adamant about taxing poker players in a higher bracket, especially if they win large sums of money.

Regular winnings from gambling are not taxed. This is because they qualify for the “exceptional event” loophole that prevents earnings from being taxed. Gambling is not a job, the winners are getting money by chance or good fortune. That is not taxed. However, Belgium believes that professional players earn their living through poker, and there is no reason why they cannot give back to the state through taxation.

This is what was said by someone from within the Belgium government: “Poker players dedicated a lot of time to playing the game. They improve their craft, play tournaments all over the world, and treat it like a job. Many professional players do not have other means of employment. If poker is no longer a game to them, it should not be treated as such for taxation purposes. They should be taxed the same as if they were in any other profession.”

It is unclear how this will be put into practice. Past winnings are definitely not going to be taxed. The people most impacted will be guys who win large sums of money. For example, a player who wins $1 million at a tournament will have to pay 75% of that money as tax.

Only the top tier will have to pay the exorbitant tax rate. Despite this fact, Belgium is in danger of alienating players with this policy. If top poker players have to give away most of their money in taxes, what is to stop them from living in a European country that lets them keep their winnings?